The scare story of today is that GSM-R will open the rail network to the risk of hacking.
A shift to a mobile communications technology could expose rail networks to hackers, according to a security expert.
Prof Stefan Katzenbeisser made the claim at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin.
The professor said that the systems which switch trains from one line to another could be shut down if encryption keys went astray.
He stressed that trains would not be in danger, but there could be delays.
I was briefly involved in this project nearly ten years ago (that’s how long these things take to get off the ground). I was charged with looking at how the changes being envisaged with interoperability – and, ultimately, in-cab signalling – would impact on the rules and regulations that apply to signallers.
Firstly, the principle behind GSM-R is that it uses mobile phone technology to communicate directly with the driver from the signalbox and vice versa. This is already in place using older cab secure radio technology on much of the southern region. Other parts of the network use the old NRN system. Either of these systems could, in theory be hacked into. I’m not aware of anyone having tried it. GSM-R would enable much more efficient communication with the driver. The plan some ten years ago included leaky feeds to enable it to work in tunnels, for example.
In-cab signalling is another ball game, taking the technology to a higher level and would require replacement of the current signalling system along with installing the relevant technology into all of the current traction. Given the cost of implementing such a scheme, it isn’t going to be happening any time soon and when it does, such implementation will be piecemeal. Bear in mind here that there are still significant parts of the network using 150 year old semaphore signalling. So Professor Katzenbeisser’s cries of wolf are not something we should be over worried about any time soon.
If you want to disrupt the rail service, there are plenty of easy, low tech means to achieve it and people do – from stealing signalling cables to placing objects on the line. If people do manage to hack into the GSM-R system, then this will simply be another irritation the operators have to deal with. It isn’t something we should be losing a great deal of sleep over.
A slow news day, it seems.
I can see that becoming a useful excuse for a signaller wrong routing a train ( not me guv honest ! ), “someone hacked the system “. As you say, non story.
“Prof Stefan Katzenbeisser“.
Good God, that does actually seem to his real name. Splendid.
I agree with the risk. The main difference is that this can be done remotely and is difficult to stop plus the ‘evidence’ can be removed later.
It’s also highly unlikely to happen.